The problem with assumptions
by Landon Richardson
Summary: Sometimes it takes a misunderstanding to realise whats been staring you in the face all along. (Part five of the Medical Examiner saga) (Steve x OC) (Featured male Danny)


The problem with assumptions

By

Landon Richardson

Official Disclaimer

**Please note that the characters of Steve McGarrett, Mary McGarrett, Danny Williams, Chin Ho Kelly, Kono Kalakaua and Catherine Rollins do not belong to me in any shape of form. I am merely using them for my own entertainment purposes.**

**The character of Danielle 'Danni' Richardson, however does belong to me so please do not use them without first asking and obtaining permission.**

**Any other character who might pop up who you don't instantly recognise the name of probably belongs to me as well**

**Thank you**

Author Note

**Welcome to 'The problem with assumptions part Five of the Medical Examiner Saga**

**This is definitely the most angsty part of the saga so please be aware of that when you read it, every story occasionally needs an angst chapter after all**

**Anyway, please enjoy part one.**

Story Summary

**Sometimes it takes a misunderstanding to realise whats been staring you in the face all along. (Part five of the Medical Examiner saga) (Steve x OC) (Featured male Danny)**

Romantic pairings

**Strong hints of Steve McGarrett / Danielle Richardson (McDanni)**

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Part Five of the Medical Examiner Saga

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Danielle Richardson shook out her umbrella as she stepped into the small coffee shop, thankful to be out of the rainstorm which had hit the state of Hawaii out of no where and wondered briefly what else could go wrong with her day. From the very moment she had opened her eyes that morning, things had begun to go wrong for her.

Her alarm had failed to go off, Libby, her niece was fighting off a cold which was making her clingy which made it extremely difficult to get her settled into her normal morning routine, she had been distracted by Libby and as a result had managed to burn her toast and had to go without any breakfast. There had been a part of her which had hoped that her bad luck would end when she passed her niece over to her child minder but instead, she had ended up being caught in a traffic jam. When she had eventually stepped foot into the morgue she had been bombarded with query after query from her staff, from the family of a victim, even from the Governor until she felt ready to scream in response.

The call she had received out of the blue from Steve McGarrett asking whether she was free and wanted to meet him for a coffee at her favourite small coffee shop had been a ray of sunshine in an otherwise dark day which was probably why she had agreed instantly to his invitation regardless of the fact that she had was busy.

A last minute query at work had kept her behind meaning that she was now late to meet him but it seemed as though that delay was the first blessing which she had all day since it had caused her to take her car rather than walk there like she normally would have done which meant that she was able to keep dry from the rain and was able to grab her umbrella from the backseat and protect herself once she had found herself a parking space and exited the car.

She pushed the memory of her bad morning from her mind and instead looked around her, a helpless smile coming to her face when she spotted Steve sitting in one of the booths situated at the back of the café, his blue eyes fixed on her from across the room. She noted that he looked serious as he watched her, making her wonder briefly whether everything was okay with him.

Danielle moved away from the door, apologising to the person she had been blocking from exiting and moved towards Steve, coming to a stop beside the booth, her heart swelling with happiness when she saw that he had already ordered her a latte which was waiting on the table for her.

"Hiya, I'm sorry that I'm late, I got held up because something came up about one of the cases we have and the Medical Examiner who was assigned to it needed me to doublecheck something urgently. Thank you for the latte though, I really need it after this morning, have you been waiting for me long?" She asked him, as she leaned in and placed her bag on the seat, before sliding into the space opposite him and resting her wet umbrella against the side of the booth so that it was out of the way. She glanced up at him, searching his face with growing concern when he remained silent seemingly content to just stare at her with a look she couldn't read. "Steve?" She pressed, resisting the urge to reach out to him just to see if he would react to her touch.

"I only arrived here about ten minutes ago so you're fine" He assured her finally, his mouth curling up into a smile, the familiar sight of it relaxing her. "I've already let Danno know that he's in charge until I come back and that I'll be later than usual today." He remarked, the comment causing her to tilt her head at him as she lifted up her mug and blew on the hot liquid for a moment before she spoke.

"You will be? Have you got somewhere that you need to be after we have this coffee?" She asked him curiously, raising an eyebrow when he shook his head at her.

"No." He replied simply, mirroring her action and picking up his own drink, taking a sip of it, his eyes never leaving hers. He lowered the mug back down on the table and spoke, an intense tone to his voice. "We need to talk Danni."

Danielle stared at him for a moment, swallowing hard against the sudden unease which came over her at his words before she nodded.

"Okay then, if you need to talk about something then we can talk about it." She agreed, picking up on the note of hesitancy to her own voice. "I'm guessing that you have a topic in mind about what you want to talk about today which is probably why you suggested we meet for coffee in the first place. I mean, please don't get me wrong Steve, I have no issue with meeting you during the day for a quick coffee but we haven't actually done this before, as in having coffee together, normally when we meet up its always for dinner on a Thursday night." She remarked, surprised when his eyes suddenly lit up as he leaned towards her.

"That right there Danni is exactly the issue we need to talk about." He told her.

"The issue?" She repeated in confusion, her head beginning to ache in a way which warned her that a headache was now approaching. "Forgive me if I'm being dense here Steve but I literally have no idea what you mean right now. What issue are you talking about? Do you not like having dinner together on Thursday because if that is what the issue is then we don't have to have dinner with one another on that day, its not as if it a mandatory thing after all." She pointed out, swallowing hard against the wave of hurt which swept over her.

"The issue isn't the fact that we have dinner with one another on a Thursday Danni, the issue is the fact that we only meet up with one another on that day, not counting the times when we see each other for a work matter." He stated, sounding frustrated as he lifted his hand and ran it through his hair. "I need to know what this is and what we are Danni."

"What we are Steve is two work colleagues who go out for dinner with one another on a Thursday evening" She replied slowly, her eyes widening slightly when he snorted out loud at her response, a flash of annoyance coming to his face.

"No, we aren't Danni." He responded with a shake of his head. "And if it's time that we perhaps address that fact. What we are doing is actually dating each other and refusing to acknowledge the fact out loud that we are and I can't do that anymore. I need us to admit what we both already know and to know exactly where I stand because…" his voice trailed off.

"Because what?" She prompted him when he remained silently, trying to wrap her head around what he was saying to her and wishing that he had picked any other day to have this conversation rather than picking the one day when she was already struggling and feeling out of control. He looked back at her, an almost guilty look on his face which made her frown and dread whatever his next words were going to be.

"Because a friend of mine is coming to the island and she wants to meet up with me. I need to know where you and I stand with one another because it will change the way I am with her. If you and I are in fact a couple then I need to let her know about that change in advance." He admitted, looking tense, his eyes watching her closely, clearly trying to read her reaction to his words.

"Oh… so what you're actually saying is that you're not meeting up with each other as friend who just want to catch up, you want to meet up because you want to what? Have sex with each other and I'm standing in the way of that? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Danielle asked him, anger igniting in her, merging with her confusion and hurt, a scream crawling up her throat which she forced herself to swallow down, not wanting to make a scene in the café.

"No Danni, you're mistaking what I'm saying to you, you're not in the way of it." Steve told her with a shake of his head.

"I'm mistaken, am I? Because that' not the way it coming across to me. I mean forgive me if I'm getting this wrong but you invited me here for a coffee and then once I'm here you blindside me, asking me questions which I haven't even had the chance to think about and demanding answers to them because you want to have sex with another woman but feel guilty about it and so what you really want, and why you invited me here today, is because you want me to absolve you of your guilt and want me to tell you that we aren't in a relationship so when your friend does come you can just do whatever you want to do." She replied coldly.

Steve stared at her for a moment before he rapidly shook his head, making a movement as though he was going to reach out for her as he spoke.

"Danni, please, I think you've got the wrong end of the stick. I… I mean… that's…" Steve began to say stopping when she cut across him and came back to her feet.

"I'm not quite sure I have gotten the wrong end of the stick Commander McGarrett but please don't allow me to stop you from having your fun. I hope that you and your friend have a delightful time together, please excuse me, I need to go, thank you again for the latte" She told him politely, picking up her bag and umbrella and quickly walking away from him, ignoring him calling after her.

She left the shop and hurried over to her car and climbed in, driving away as soon as she could, noticing that she was shaking and swallowing hard against the tears which were threatening to escape. She rummaged through her bag when she came to a stop at a red light and pulled out her cell phone, noticing that she had two miss calls from Steve which she ignored, instead quickly sending a text to her second in command to let her know that something had come up and that she wouldn't be back in the office for the rest of the day. She dropped the phone into the passenger seat and focused her full attention on driving.

She wasn't sure how long she had been driving aimlessly around before she pulled her car to a stop at an alcove and killing the engine. For a moment she merely stayed in her seat, staring blindly out of the window screen before she pushed the door open and climbed out, closing the door behind her and locking it behind her before she moved over to the stone wall and sat on it, staring out at the beautiful view in front of her with unseeing eyes, her mind racing trying to find the reason why she had just acted the way she had acted with Steve.

Danielle was someone who was well known for her ability to keep a level head regardless of any situation and being able to look at things from the other person's point of view with no anger, and yet, when it had come to Steve and him hinting to her that he might be involved with someone else, she had lost it with him and essentially ran from him rather than staying in the booth and talking it through with him.

She breathed out deeply, allowing her eyes to close as she thought back to what he had said and how he had wanted to spend more time with her and how he wanted them to acknowledge the fact that they were in a relationship with one another rather than insisting on the fact that they were work colleagues who simply ate together once a week.

She had attempted to ignore her growing feelings for Steve, knowing that if she was to give into the temptation of being in a relationship with hm then it could lead to complications for both of them when it came to their jobs and yet the more time she spent with him, the more she wanted to see him.

She didn't want it to be limited to just once a week for a couple of hours or the odd time when he came into the morgue with his work partner or a member of his team in regard to an ongoing case. What she wanted was to be able to see him every day or at least be able to pick up the phone and call him over mundane matters like what she should have for dinner that night.

The mere mention of him being with someone else had caused the jealous streak in her which she had thought was dead and buried to emerge causing her to panic and act like a spoilt child. She shouldn't have run from him mid conversation, she should have at least listened to everything he had to say and to read what he was saying beneath his words as well.

He had wanted to be with her and she might have just succeeded in ruining that because she couldn't handle the thought that he has asked to meet her because he wanted her to assure him that they weren't in a relationship with each other so he could have sex with someone else when in fact what he had been saying had been the opposite.

"Fucking hell Danni, you're an absolutely fool." She said out loud to herself, swinging her legs around and coming back to her feet. She moved to the car and unlocked it, pulling the door opened and leaned in, picking up her cell phone from the seat. She swiped her thumb over the screen, noting that Steve had called her a further three time since the last time she had looked at her phone.

She went to press the connect button when she stopped, staring down at it for a moment before she shook her head and dropped it back onto the passenger seat, closing the door and moving around the front of the house and climbing in the driver's side. She started the engine and reversed back onto the road before she pressed her foot down on the pedal, taking the road which would lead her directly to the Five-O headquarters.

There were somethings which needed to be done face to face and this was definitely one of them.

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Author Note

**Thanks for taking the time to read. An especially big thank you if you have left me a review, favourite the story or decided to follow it. **

**I really appreciate it**


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